Three police officers killed after house filled with gas exploded during eviction

Three police officers have been killed in a farmhouse explosion in Italy as they arrived to evict the occupants.

At least 15 others have been injured after the building in Castel d’Azzano, near Verona, was filled with gas and exploded as officers forced their way in.

They had arrived to evict three siblings, two men and a woman all in their 60s, who had refused to leave and ‘threatened to blow themselves up’.

Verona’s chief prosecutor Raffaele Tito said: ‘It’s an incredible tragedy, absurd behavior. I am incredibly saddened.

‘Carabinieri and police tried to operate with maximum security and all the necessary equipment.

‘But the outcome was unexpected and very painful.’

Two brothers were arrested, with one of them hospitalized.

Another fled across nearby fields and has still not been found.

Images show the building still smoldering as firefighters work to rescue people trapped beneath the rubble.

One said: ‘One of the bodies was pulled from the rubble only half an hour ago.’

The siblings had barricaded themselves inside the home, according to Italian news agency ANSA.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said the incident was a ‘terrible toll’, adding: ‘When forced entry was made to this apartment, witnesses report that the smell of gas was immediately visible and the explosion occurred.’

The three officers who were killed have been hailed as heroes by the Carabinieri Union.

Secretary Antonio Serpi: ‘Respected and beloved by their colleagues, they honored the uniform with humility, dedication, and altruism, even to the point of ultimate sacrifice.

‘The pain of the loss of our three colleagues is profound and affects the entire Carabinieri family.

‘We express our deepest sympathies, with emotion and respect, to the families of the deceased soldiers, to their injured colleagues, and to all those who are working amid the rubble with their customary courage and spirit of service during these hours.’